2007 Labour Party leadership election (UK)
The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, triggering a concurrent election for the deputy leadership.[1][2]
Informal campaigning had been ongoing ever since Blair announced in 2004 that he would not be fighting a fourth general election as leader. Pressure for a timetable eventually led him to announce on 7 September 2006 that he would step down within a year.[3] Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) met on 13 May 2007 to decide a timetable.[4][5] Nominations opened on 14 May and closed at 12:30 UTC+1 on 17 May 2007.
Blair said he expected Gordon Brown to succeed him, and that Brown "would make an excellent Prime Minister". When nominations for the leadership elections opened, Blair was one of those nominating Brown.[6] From the start, most observers considered Brown the overwhelming favourite to succeed Blair; John McDonnell, his only challenger, failed to secure enough nominations in order to get onto the ballot, and conceded defeat.[7] Brown received 313 (88.2%) nominations to McDonnell's 29 (8.2%), making it mathematically impossible for anyone other than Brown to be nominated.
The election process concluded with Brown being declared leader at a special conference on 24 June 2007. On 27 June, Blair resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Brown.[8]
If Brown had been opposed, Labour Party members would for the first time have directly elected a new prime minister.
John McDonnell and Gordon Brown were the only candidates as the election process began with the nominations round. In order to secure a place on the ballot paper, candidates needed to submit their nominations to the National Executive Committee (NEC) by 17 May, each supported by at least 12.5% of Labour MPs (45 Labour MPs, including the candidate themselves). Brown, the only successfully nominated candidate, was declared leader at a special Labour conference on 24 June 2007.[53]
Campaign[edit]
As nominations opened on 15 May 2007, it became clear that Brown was well past the minimum requirement of nominations, with the support of around 282 MPs, while John McDonnell had only 27 nominations; still well short of the 45 required. In the Deputy Leadership Race, Harriet Harman, Hazel Blears, Peter Hain and Alan Johnson all had more than the minimum required nominations, with Jon Cruddas having 44 nominations and Hilary Benn 34.[63] On 16 May, John McDonnell alleged that many of Brown's supporters were using wrecking tactics to ensure that the decision did not proceed to a ballot.[64] Later that day, Brown secured 308 nominations, to John McDonnell's 29; although nominations were to be open for another day there were insufficient undeclared MPs remaining for anyone except Gordon Brown to be on the ballot, meaning he need only attend hustings and wait to be declared leader by the NEC. At this stage, John McDonnell conceded defeat. In the Deputy Leadership Race, Jon Cruddas and Hilary Benn secured the required nominations.[65][66] Nominations closed on 17 May, with Brown having secured 313 nominations compared to John McDonnell's 29. Harriet Harman (65 nominations), Hazel Blears (49 nominations), Peter Hain (51 nominations), Alan Johnson (73 nominations), Jon Cruddas (49 nominations) and Hilary Benn (47 nominations) all qualified to appear on the Deputy leadership ballot.[67][68]
At the husting at the University of Warwick on 20 May, Brown was heckled regarding the 2003 War in Iraq. He replied by saying that although there had been mistakes, it had been the right thing to do. Candidates for the Deputy Leadership election were asked which factors they considered important to the next general election. Jon Cruddas named the issue of insecurity at work; Hilary Benn said that more housing was needed; Peter Hain described inequality as "the biggest challenge we face as a government"; Alan Johnson focused on social mobility; Hazel Blears mentioned education and employment opportunities; Harriet Harman said that Labour needed to "win back the trust and the confidence of the British people" and emphasised the importance of policy implementation. Blears, Harman and Benn all focused on the importance of party unity.[69][70]
At the Bradford husting on 27 May, Jan Wilson, leader of Sheffield City Council, told Gordon Brown that the shadow of Iraq hung over the party and that Brown had had an easy time on it during the leadership campaign. Brown said he was happy to discuss the decision to remove the Ba'athist regime, but that his priority now was to focus on the next steps, with numbers of UK troops decreasing and UK forces taking an "overwatch role".[71] At the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) husting in Leicester on 30 May, Deputy Leadership candidates were split on the question of whether there should be all-ethnic minority shortlists; Hazel Blears, Jon Cruddas and Peter Hain all backed the idea, to increase numbers of Black and Asian MPs. Alan Johnson said that shortlists could reflect a need for more ethnic minority MPs, but that he was not sure that all-minority shortlists were the answer, and Hilary Benn said that he was not persuaded of the case for such shortlists either. Harriet Harman made no comment on the issue, except to say that there needed to be more MPs from ethnic minorities.[72]
On 6 June 2007, ballot papers were sent out to Labour MPs, Labour MEPs, Labour Party members and members of affiliated unions for the position of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.[73] At the Cardiff husting on 9 June 2007, Brown described the Conservatives as caught between "what they think they should say" and "what they really believe". He accused them of being obsessed with Grammar schools, and said that parts of the Conservative Party wanted to scrap the NHS. He associated himself with decisions taken over the war in Iraq again, saying again that although mistakes had been made it had been the right thing to do. He also pledged that if necessary he would find more money to prevent job losses at Remploy, a provider of jobs for the disabled, and that promises made at the G8 summit to tackle poverty in Africa would be kept.[74]
At the Oxford Youth husting (for people under the age of 27 years) on 10 June, Gordon Brown said that Labour must modernise and reform again to further involve young people in decision making, including the use of online facilities such as MySpace. Hilary Benn was critical of Bob Geldof and defended the settlement of the recent G8 Summit in Germany, while Hazel Blears focused on anti-social behaviour. Peter Hain accused Home Secretary John Reid of "fanning up" the previous week's debate over possible introduction of new stop and search powers for police, saying "I don't believe in macho posturing on law and order and terrorism". Harriet Harman said that she felt the law needed changing to ensure that the government was informed if terrorist suspects en route to other countries faced the possibility of torture on arrival, and Jon Cruddas focused heavily on allegations of special rendition of terrorist suspects to Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Alan Johnson stated the need for testing in schools to assess how well schools and individual pupils were doing; Jon Cruddas agreed but said he felt that it had gone too far.[75]
The Deputy Leadership Ballot closed at 17:00 UTC+1 on 22 June. Brown was declared Leader of the Labour Party at a special conference on 24 June 2007, while in an election on the Alternative Vote system, Harriet Harman won the Deputy Leadership by 50.4% to Alan Johnson's 49.6% after preferences were re-distributed, Jon Cruddas coming narrowly third. Harman had been behind until the last round of redistributions.[76][77]
During the months leading up to Tony Blair's resignation, media attention focused on a wide range of Labour politicians, most of whom publicly refused to stand:
Transition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown[edit]
Tony Blair tendered his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after ten years, to Queen Elizabeth II on 27 June 2007 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown was asked by The Queen to form a new government.[96] Unlike Blair with John Prescott, Brown opted to keep his new deputy, Harriet Harman, out of the position of Deputy Prime Minister.